Kitchen Call: A penne for your thoughts

Friday

Jun 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2009 at 2:23 PM

Recently a young couple asked me to cook a special occasion dinner featuring one of their favorites, penne alla vodka. They explained that they felt this particular dish honors both their Italian-American backgrounds and also celebrates their love story, meeting during one frozen winter in Russia.

Linda Bassett

Recently a young couple asked me to cook a special occasion dinner featuring one of their favorites, penne alla vodka. They explained that they felt this particular dish honors both their Italian-American backgrounds and also celebrates their love story, meeting during one frozen winter at a language study program in St. Petersburg, Russia.

At the party, I was surprised by the guests’ excitement over the pasta. I like to think I’m “in the loop” when it comes to what is popular in the world of food, but this surprising reaction brought up a few questions.

First, from the young hosts: would it be expensive, meaning how much of their best vodka would be needed. Easy (and inexpensive) answer: about one shot glass for 6 to 12 servings.

Second, for myself: How did my version measure up to their favorite restaurant version? Answer: There were no leftovers. And, last: Is penne alla vodka as popular as it seemed at this dinner party? Answer, yes, the tubular pasta with the lovely pink sauce is ubiquitous at the “cooler,” (translated: inexpensive) Italian eateries frequented by newly minted professionals and coming into its own elsewhere.

Similar to old-fashioned Italian-American spaghetti with clam sauce, this dish comes in both red and white, but red is the trendiest version. Both adapt easily to the home kitchen. Researching several recipes of the pink (red) sauce, I found various adaptations, some containing bits of ham, bacon, onion, and/or squirts of Tabasco. My own recipe below turns out with totally smooth sauce both in texture and flavor. No hot seasonings, no crumbles of meat, no bits of vegetables, just a gentle flavoring of onion and garlic achieved by giving both a “walk” around the hot pan.

Both versions are inspired by classic Italian cooking. One is a twist on a basic marinara sauce, while the other once popular in more prosperous times, stylishly topped with grains of caviar, is reminiscent of fettucine alfredo.

1. Heat butter and olive oil together in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion halves and garlic cloves, both cut side down, to the pan. Cook, stirring and lifting from the pan so that they do not burn, until they color lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard onion and garlic.

2. Stir in vodka and cream; bring to a low boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 4 minutes, until cream has reduced and thickened. Add tomato puree. Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Keep sauce warm over very low heat.

4. Add pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Toss gently; add cheese and toss again. If the mixture seems dry, add reserved cooking water only a tablespoon at a time if needed, tossing gently. Serve right away.

1. Melt butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet. Add cream and lemon zest. Turn off the heat; allow mixture to sit for 5 to 7 minutes over very low heat so that the zest flavors the cream. Add vodka. Stir in lemon juice.

In spite of all the recent rain, the rosemary plant, now nearly a tree after five years, is doing well. Rosemary does not like cool rainy weather. It is native to hot, dry, sunny climates.

In winter, I bring the plant (now about 3 feet tall) indoors and let it bask in the sunniest kitchen window, free of drafts. Still, I’m often concerned that it will not last the winter and start to hold my breath around February when we hardly see the sun. I water it sparingly, about once a week. Then around early April it starts to perk up a bit, sending out shoots of new growth, once again causing concern when its lower branches drop piles of needles.

This spring was so cool that I dared not move it outdoors until late May. That was when it needed trimming so that those lower branches could thrive. Those fragrant snips are washed, dried thoroughly in paper toweling, then packed in a zipper plastic bag in the vegetable bin. Rosemary leaves can also be pulled free of the branches and dried as found in the supermarket.

Below are a few tips for use and care of the plant whether you buy whole branches at the farmers market or grow them in a pot in your back yard.

- Use rosemary fresh or dried (dry it out on a sunny windowsill or an oven at very low heat, about 200 degrees, checking often, then chopped finely).

- Put a few branches directly on the hot coals of the grill to flavor meats or vegetables as they cook.

- Flavor salt in a shaker, as the Belgians and French do for their delicious fried potatoes, by placing few dried leaves in the bottom of a salt shaker.

- If using leaves to season meats or vegetables directly, remove the leaves from the stems, throw out the stems, and grind VERY finely into a powder.

- Use rosemary sparingly or food will taste medicinal.

Linda Bassett, author of “From Apple Pie to Pad Thai,” teaches American regional cooking and international cuisine at North Shore Community College. Reach her by e-mail at KitchenCall@aol.com.

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